Adil Najam
A few readers have asked us to provide links to various media appearances by Gen. Musharraf here on ATP. A very good and constantly updated colelction is available at Trekker’s blog here.
Meanwhile, we are providing video clips of some of the most talked appearances (rather, those that are available on the web for linking).
Related ATP Posts on Gen. Musharraf’s new book, In the Line of Fire
First, the much talked about appearance on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show and then the apperance on 60 Minutes. Third we have updated this post to include the CNN interview by Wolf Blitzer. We have also added the most pertinent part of the White House Press Conference with President Bush and President Musharraf.
You can view his appearance on 60 Minutes here:
Here is the first half of his appearance in CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer (cannot, yet, find the second half). FULL TRANSCRIPT of this interview can be read here:
Here is the middle part, the most pertinent and talked-about part, of the White House Press Conference with Presidents Bush and Musharraf:
Finally, here is the interview on PBS’s Charlie Rose, which has also been much discussed in the comments from our readers:
[quote comment=”3484″]If we recall our 59 years of history, the democratic process has been broken each time by army intervention. And each time, the intervention was for the betterment of country.[/quote]
No. It has’nt. Each time it has further shattered the institutional foundations of the country and each time they have left the country in a much worse situation.
@Eideeman. If we recall our 59 years of history, the democratic process has been broken each time by army intervention. And each time, the intervention was for the betterment of country.
You and I both know that for an army man to be successful, he needs to be an autocrat, a dictator. And thats what all the military rulers have been and so is Musharraf.
True that military rulers stay longer, (though they dont allow democratic government to complete the the tenure) and hence there is stability in the government which leads to economic progress. I am sure if democratic process is allowed to run its full course, we will slowly see some progress despite corruption. You haven’t had a full democratic term for last 59 years, How can you expect the people to get it right the first time?
Anyway, since military rulers are dictators, the civillian machinery becomes incapacitated to work independently. Its the language of boots that it understands only. It forgets that its there to serve the people and not to carry out the orders of higher command.
Why do you think Musharraf is not taking off his uniform. Because his power does not come from people’s trust in him but from army backing.
What do you think will happen when Musharraf takes off uniform or leaves, utter chaos. Even at present, he is not working on strengthening civillian institutions because they are an anathema to dictatorship.
Despite his best intentions (which for me are doubtful but anyways) when he moves on, the country will move backwards because all civillian institutions will be weak.
Thats my point of view and obviously others are allowed their own views.
I just found another one..hopefully I’m not being redundant:
http://www.cornell.edu/video/viewer/video.cfm?vidn ame=musharraf_20060926&pover=real&qover=high
This one is the interview at Cornell.
Thanks to reader Eidee Man for identifying a source for the interview on PBS’s Charlie Rose show. That has now been added to this post for those who may wish to view it here.
@PatExpat,
I’m a very firm believer in the democratic process and have frankly been somewhat more inclined towards PPP pretty much all of my life. I think that Musharraf has allied with the DEVIL himself in Sindh and that has left the assemblies and local positions in the hands of violent and brutal thugs of MQM who are not only corrupt (like their PPP and PML brethren) but are also dangerous in the violent sense.
However, that being said, I think Musharraf HIMSELF is a person who genuinely wants the betterment of Pakistan and really wants Pakistan to come onto the world stage. We’re the sixth largest country in the world and our people have tremendous potential and its about time we realized and capitalized on it.
To me the ideal situation would be one in which PPP and PML (including old Nawaz group people) populated the national and provincial assemblies and the Prime Minister post and Musharraf kept the President post.
As an aside, I finally located the Charlie Rose interview. It’s a great one as I expected:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-344307788 1361947856&q=charlie rose musharraf